I did something really bad to my Ikelite 8” dome port this weekend. After not shooting UW for about a year I have been putting all the pieces together. We’re going to Little Cayman in a few weeks. I was testing the strobes and needed to put a lens on the camera. I had the super wide port body on the big dome but instead of mounting the shorter 8 mm f/3.5 fish eye lens I put on the larger 11-22 mm f/2.8-3.5 WA zoom lens. If you shoot with Olympus you know these lenses and how different they are in size. Both lenses are great underwater but they require different port bodies. I had my DIY neoprene port cover on and couldn’t see why the port body wasn’t engaging with the port locks. I kept rocking and rotating the dome trying to get it to seat.

To make a long violin solo short, I ground up the inside of the dome port on the knurled lens filter, making an ugly round mark. Ouch! I felt awful and awful dumb at the same time. Please don’t try to cheer me up by saying, “Duh, you should ‘a known better”, ‘cause that won’t make me feel any better. L LOL, I know I deserve it anyway. J

So Ikelite is being very helpful, as always. The acrylic dome can be replaced in my existing dome body and shade without having to buy the whole Dome Assembly new. It’ll cost me about $150 instead of $400. Gee, I feel a little better already.

I thought about this polishing method but it would be really hard for me to do this evenly on the inside of the dome. My hands are too big to fit inside and if I didn't polish the whole surface evenly the dome would have anomalies in the surface that would show up as distortion.

I was stupid once too, and did the same mistake. However, i managed to polish out the scratches on the inside of the dome, so i'd recommend you to give it a try before spending another $150.

I sent the port off to Ikelite. If I spent $30 or so for a polish kit and hours trying to do it right, I'd be better off letting Ikelite replace it for $150. The outside was pristine, with only minor marks. I would have considered the polish method if the damage were on the outside. The port will be near perfect inside and out now when it comes back.

I also had a bad dual sync chord that needed testing. Turns out it flooded and needs replacing. Ikelite gave me a better price for replacement so they're really standing behind their gear. I'll get the port and cord back before my trip. The shipping will be expensive for 2-day or next day air, but that's what happens when things break just before a dive trip.

Glass port scratches are as problematic as they are inevitable. Fortunately, it is possible to remove scratches in glass ports if the scratches are not too deep. Stephen Frink suggested to me I use "jewellers rouge" which I found on Amazon. I used a Dremel which has a power cord (when I tried with battery packs, ran out of juice before finishing) and a whole bunch of felt polishing wheels (catalog #414). It took a long, long, long time. Perhaps an hour but the minor scratches did disappear. I went through a number of felt wheels. It is a long and boring process but gives one time to reflect on the dangers of rocks attacking poor defenseless dome ports and to be more protective in the future. I write this now as I am preparing to attend to another session of polishing, which I hate as much, if not more, than cleaning the camera's sensor (also necessary this weekend). While you are out diving and having fun, think of a tiny wheel spinning round and round and be thankful if you have acrylic domes how much easier they are to repair.

I can't guarantee this process will work for everybody but so far it has done well for minor, hairline scratches and little dings. I hope this advice cuts into the sale of replacement Seacam domes, Harald is doing far too well these days.

Good luck!

I had been told by opticians and housing manufacturers that it is not possible to polish out scratches from glass domes: they must be replaced. However, after reading this post, I did some searching online, and found a DIY Glass Polishing Kit for $40 at www.hobbytool.com. I had a couple of scratches on my glass dome that were not deep, but close to 2cm long, and managed to produce really ugly black scars on the image files when shooting into the sun. To my utter astonishment, they disappeared after only about 20 minutes of polishing using an electric drill with the wheel, pad, and polish solution provided in the kit. Best $40 I ever spent. Thank you Yellowmon!

Hi all,

After a cave dive, my Subal 8" dome port had several scratches, right in the middle! THey are not deep, but the longest one is 2 cm long.

I've read all the posts in this thread, but from the 7 pages, only those two addresses the problem of glass domes (maybe ir will be appropriate to create two different topics - acrylic and glass - to be easier for future reference...?

Anyway, I live in Portugal, so maybe some can post advice regarding where can I buy that glass polishing kit, inside EU?

This is my first post here. Sorry its coming in the form of a question. Lots of good info and have been enjoying the forum.

I have an 8" Aquatica dome port that has a few small scratches in the middle. Its fine underwater but noticeable on over unders. i bought the micromesh kit and my question is can i just polish out the small are that has the scratch or do I need to do the entire dome?

This is my first post here. Sorry its coming in the form of a question. Lots of good info and have been enjoying the forum.

I have an 8" Aquatica dome port that has a few small scratches in the middle. Its fine underwater but noticeable on over unders. i bought the micromesh kit and my question is can i just polish out the small are that has the scratch or do I need to do the entire dome?

Thanks!

If you only polish one spot, you'll end up with a flat spot which will show as distortion in your pictures. Start with your bad spot and do an expanding circular pattern around it, staying even pressure on all sides. Check frequently until the main scratch is gone, then go to the finer polish.

I want to throw a bit of a spanner into the discussion and see if anyone can help me. I, unfortunately, had an incident the other day where my zoom focus ring came off of my lense while I was diving. Typically I dive with my camera dome port facing down, so the zoom gear ending up lovingly nestled in my dome port where it has left a few minor, but very irritating scratches.

I have searched around but am unable to find any advice on the best way to remove these scratches. I have a full dome 'buffing' kit already so I just need the technique and I am at your mercy for help. I am using an 8" Sea & Sea acryllic dome if that helps any.

If the scratches are on the inside of your dome, they are kind of hard to reach. All of the various methods work by grinding off minute amounts of the plastic, just with differing grits of either sandpaper (use wet sandpaper, like body shops use), polishing compounds of various forms (all the way from acylic "headlight restoration" kits to NOVUS polish). The main ingredient of the polishing is the elbow grease!!!

You can get "buffing" pads that fit on the end of a power drill. Buy a bit extension, and you should be in business. In polishing, you have to be careful not to wear a flat spot on the area you are polishing, and that is more difficult on a concave suface, as they don't make a convex polishing head (at least that I've seen). If you use a smaller head on the polishing bonnet, that should help matters.

As mentioned by a great many posters, you just have to be patient with the process, and work the area a little at a time.